Israeli strikes yesterday killed 33 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the worst reported daily death toll yet in the almost week-long clashes, as the UN Security Council prepared to meet amid global alarm at the escalating conflict.
The UN Security Council was due to meet at 2pm GMT yesterday.
The heaviest fighting since 2014, sparked by unrest in Jerusalem, saw the rivals again trade heavy fire, with the death toll rising to 181 in the crowded coastal enclave of Gaza since Monday last week and to 10 in Israel, authorities on either side said.
Photo: AFP
Israel yesterday morning said that its “continuing wave of strikes” had in the past 24 hours struck more than 90 targets across Gaza, where the destruction of a building housing news media organizations sparked an international outcry.
In Gaza, emergency teams worked to pull out bodies from vast piles of smoking rubble and toppled buildings, as relatives wailed in horror and grief.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “dismayed” by civilian casualties in Gaza and “deeply disturbed” by Israel’s strike on Saturday on the tower housing The Associated Press and al-Jazeera bureaus, a spokesperson said.
Photo: AFP
Israeli defense officials said the building also housed offices of Hamas militants.
Israel’s army yesterday said that about 3,000 rockets had been fired from the coastal strip toward Israel, the highest rate ever recorded, of which about 450 failed launches fell in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s anti-missile system had intercepted more than 1,000 rockets in almost a week, during which Israeli residential buildings have been hit, with more than 500 people wounded, the army said.
“The intensity of the conflict is something we have not seen before, with non-stop airstrikes in densely populated Gaza and rockets reaching big cities in Israel,” said the International Committee of the Red Cross. “As a result, children are dying on both sides.”
The Israel Defense Forces said it had targeted the infrastructure of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, including by pounding a vast tunnel system with about 100 strikes, and by targeting weapon factories and storage sites.
Israeli airstrikes also hit the home of Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas’ political wing in the Gaza Strip, the army said, releasing a video showing plumes of smoke and intense damage, but without saying whether he was killed.
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